GRAND HAVEN – The cream of the crop in the OK Red Conference has beaten up on each other throughout the regular season, and Thursday’s Division 1 regional tennis tournament at Grand Haven High School wasn’t much different.

Grandville, Holland West Ottawa and Rockford proved there was little margin for error to try to hoist a championship trophy, something the Bulldogs and Panthers were able to claim a share of but Rockford just missed.

Grandville and West Ottawa tied for the regional title with 22 points each, and the Rams, who finished with 20 points, earned the consolation prize of also qualifying for the state finals. Teams reach the final match by finishing in the top two at regionals or accumulating 18 or more points.

The regional crown was the first for the Grandville program and head coach Tim Buck, whose team won four flight championships. The Bulldogs also won their first-ever OK Red championship on Saturday, snapping West Ottawa’s stranglehold on the title.

“The competitive side of you wants to win (the regional) outright,” Buck said. “You want that trophy all to yourself, but we didn’t play as good today as we have been. We had to win all five of our flights and that’s a hard thing to do. But boy, the kids played hard. I’m extremely proud.”

West Ottawa spoiled the Bulldogs party by exceeding expectations. Panthers head coach Peter Schwallier said he expected his squad to be three-point underdogs in the final standings before play began, but his squad had some players elevate their games.

“Two doubles (Spencer Panse and Taylor Bethke) went in unseeded, but they ended up winning their first match and then upset the No. 2 seed,” Schwallier said. “And everyone else played right up to their seed.”

Grandville and West Ottawa split championships in singles as the Bulldogs won No. 1 behind a 6-4, 6-2 score from senior Chase Simsa, and a 6-0, 6-0 win by Zach Rabitoy at No. 2. It was sweet redemption for Simsa, who lost a three-set heartbreaker at last season’s regional tournament that cost his team a shot at going to the state finals.

“We ended up missing out by just one point, “ he said. “So today was really nice.”

Simsa said his game plan against West Ottawa’s Nick Schnobel in the finals was not to be overly aggressive.

“He has a lot of power in his game, but I just wanted to keep it back deep and let him make all the offensive moves and make sure he plays it the best he can,” Simsa said. “I kept it deep and let him make the mistakes. It worked because none of us could hold serve, really.”

West Ottawa’s Joe Miller captured the title at No. 3, 6-3, 6-1, by defeating Rockford’s Zak Riebschleger. At No. 4, Mark VanderStoep completed a dominating day with a 6-0, 6-1 triumph against the Rams’ Jerry Hewitt.

“Mark only dropped two games the entire day, so I’d say that was pretty impressive,” Schwallier said.

The doubles action featured plenty of nail-biting drama, as three of the four flights went three sets. The tightest finish came at No. 4, where Hudsonville’s Brenden Costen and Trey Elling needed a 7-5 tiebreaker to beat opponents from Rockford, 6-1, 5-7, 7-6 (5).

Grandville’s Chase Benites and Josh Troemel lost a tiebreaker in the second set, but took the other two, 6-4, 6-4, to defeat Hudsonville.

Buck said he wouldn’t be surprised if all three state finals-bound teams from the OK Red finish in the top 10. The finals are scheduled for Oct. 18-19.

“We’ve played against two or three of the top teams in the state,” he said. “We didn’t win, but we competed very closely. Us, Rockford and West Ottawa all believe that we can (do well). We need to convince these kids that they can compete against anyone.”